“It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.”

–

Carl von Clausewitz

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“Don’t die hesitating.”

–

Unknown

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Ok.

‘More people die hesitating’ is a metaphor <I think>. But I like it. Hesitation is pretty much the bane of everyone’s existence. We hesitate in Life and we hesitate in business. Surprisingly, more often than not, our hesitation is actually a reflection of calculation than it is any real fear of action.

Yup.

We think too much.

We more often than not hesitate to assess, calculate our next move and ‘be smarter’ as we move forward.

Unfortunately that hesitation also means we become a sitting duck for Life to shoot us where we stand. This is a corollary to “if you are stationary, you will not survive.” Its a corollary because that quote mostly refers to stagnancy and , in this case, this is simply non movement moments in a typically moving frame of reference. What this means is if someone is paying attention and you hesitate, they can kill you. Or. If you hesitate in the midst of chaotic movement you may get smashed by some other object simply because you didn’t shift out of its way.

Anyway.

Life, and business, is fairly consistent with regard to how it allocates Time to us. It places shit in front of us … moment after moment … minute by minute … hour by hour … and says “decide.” This means time is allocated with something within it not ‘nothing.’

What that means is there is rarely any space allocated for hesitation. In other words, there is rarely time for hesitation.

Regardless of whether you look at life as short … or as long as how much stuff you fill it with … you are demanded to use Life as well as you can and more often than not you are penalized if you hesitate.

Whew. When I read what I just wrote I am tempted to conclude we should not hesitate … like … EVER.

I start leaning even more in that direction of thought because I tend to believe if you look upon your Life and find reasons why you may not be where you want to be, besides some general incompetence, you will most likely find a time & place where you hesitated. But we shouldn’t conclude that because hesitation in exactly the right moment can actually save you from making some misstep or mistake.

What I will say is hesitation trips you up all the time <and sometimes in some very stealthy sneaky ways>. Hesitation is always standing nearby waiting to give you a gift that keeps giving … and most likely a gift you didn’t ask for nor want.

Here is the reality.

Sometimes you shouldn’t pause and think in general.

Sometimes you shouldn’t pause and think, specifically, … “maybe I should not do this because …”

Sometimes you just gotta go … whether you are ready or not.

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“You’re never going to be 100% ready and it’s never going to be just the right time, but that’s the point. It means that every moment is also the right moment. If you want it, you just have to do it.”

All moments remind you that nothing is ever perfect in Life and Life actually demands you take imperfect scenarios and constantly make imperfect decisions & choices.

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I was dying to

hear

someone say

That I didn’t need

to try so hard to be perfect,

That I was enough

and

it was okay”

—

Kuffr

===

I imagine I agree that, metaphorically, more people die … their dreams, their aspirations, their ‘good things they deserve’ … because of hesitation than anything else.

I imagine I think the root of most hesitation, beyond true thoughtfulness, is assessment of preparedness … and in general … we suck at that assessment <we seek as often as possible to get as close to perfection – to limit risk – prior to moving on>.

I imagine I should just close by saying that, generally, hesitation is dangerous.

It could kill you.

It could kill your dreams.

It could kill what could be.

But.

Here is the good news.

With the sheer number of possible decisions & choices Life throws at you every day you will have an opportunity to not hesitate in the very near future <assuming, of course, your last hesitation didn’t kill you>.

What I can tell you is that you should hesitate with care because hesitation, more often than not, may not actually kill you but will kill something that matters to you (what you want, a dream, hope, progress, etc.).